1972 playscript (abridged)/Act II
Act II ;CUT TO: INT. APARTMENT - MORNING Rheya, on the floor, dead. Her hand outstretched, a repeat of an image we saw earlier. Rain streaks the kitchen window. The bottle of pills nearby. ;CUT TO: INT. PROMETHEUS Rheya is taking her pills. Kelvin watches. KELVIN: What do you remember? RHEYA: What do you mean? KELVIN: Do you remember Beethoven? The Beatles? RHEYA: (thinking) Yes. But not until you mentioned them. As soon as you said those things, I remembered them. And they have associations that make me think of other things I remember. It's like filling up. (She looks out the portal at Solaris.) RHEYA: Is it a planet? KELVIN: Not exactly. It exists in a continuum that wasn't proven until ten years ago, a higher mathematical dimension superimposed on top of the Universe. An infinite number of them, in fact. It was a violation of all of our various laws regarding the Universe, Space, or Space-Time. It was completely counter-intuitive. We had to unlearn everything. RHEYA: Is it intelligent? KELVIN: Intelligent beyond our comprehension. RHEYA: Then it's God, right? KELVIN: It's something. RHEYA: You still don't believe in God? KELVIN: The whole idea of God was dreamed up by a silly animal with a small brain called Man. Even the limits we put on it are human limits. It can do this, it can do that! It designs, it creates! RHEYA: Even a God that wasn't active, that just created something and stood back and watched? KELVIN: You're talking about a man in a white beard again. You're ascribing human characteristics to something that isn't human. Human beings look for causes and patterns. How could we know what Solaris is up to, if anything? A beat. The intercom comes to life. SNOW: Kelvin, you awake? KELVIN: What is it? SNOW: Can you meet me and Sartorius on B deck in an hour? Just a little strategy session. But in person this time. ;CUT TO: INT. KELVIN'S ROOM Kelvin is getting ready to leave. Rheya sits on the edge of the bed, nervous. KELVIN: All right? She nods and Kelvin exits, locking the door behind him. We sit with her for a moment as she tries to remain calm. IN THE CORRIDOR: Kelvin listens. A long time. Satisfied, he begins to walk away but is stopped by the sounding of a CRASHING GLASS from within. He hears footsteps approach the door, and then a fierce POUNDING. He takes a step back. An INHUMAN AMOUNT OF NOISE begins emanating from the other side of the door, which is now threatening to break apart. It sounds like a plane is crashing in Kelvin's room -- no human could create this kind of cacophony. Finally, he steps forward and presses the button to open the door. RHEYA: Is revealed, covered in blood. She has completely torn the inside of the cabin door apart and has badly injured herself in the process. KELVIN: Rheya... Confused, she looks up at him as he takes her in his arms and carries her to the bed. RHEYA: What happened? KELVIN: You were trying to break down the door. Do you know why? RHEYA: When I saw you were gone I got scared. He puts her down on the bed and runs to the bathroom, where he gathers all the first aid materials he can find. Returning, he blanches. Rheya's wounds have HEALED; in fact, they are HEALING in front of us. She looks up at him and doesn't like the look on his face. RHEYA: Chris, what's wrong with me? CUT TO: INT. LAB Kelvin runs Rheya through a battery of tests and studies the results. RHEYA: Am I all right? A beat. KELVIN: Yes. ;CUT TO: INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE OF ROOM (In keeping with 1972 film) Snow and Sartorius wait for Kelvin. SNOW: He won't do it. SARTORIUS: Why do you say that? SNOW: He won't. Kelvin enters, with Rheya. Snow and Sartorius exchange glances. KELVIN: This is my wife, Rheya. She looks at Snow and nods. Sartorius she hates instantly, and the feeling seems to be mutual. SARTORIUS: We want to talk... SNOW: We want to talk freely. KELVIN: Go ahead. Sartorius begins. SARTORIUS: I suggest we pool our knowledge regarding the... visitors. We can express whatever questions or conclusions we might have... share information about our various... experiments. Agreed? Kelvin and Snow nod. ;CUT TO: INT. B DECK CONFERENCE ROOM SARTORIUS: They are not autonomous individuals and they're not actual persons. They are projections materializing from our minds, based on a given individual. (to Kelvin) She reappeared exactly as she had before? Kelvin looks at Rheya and nods. She is struck by the word "before". SNOW: The same vulnerabilities? KELVIN: He nods again. SNOW: And when a given situation no longer corresponds to the normal faculties of the... original, the visitor suffers some sort of disconnected consciousness. KELVIN: (to Rheya) When you cut yourself pounding the door, did it hurt? RHEYA: Yes. (looks around) Of course. Not in film * Excluding p. 22 * Excluding p. 23 * Excluding first half of p. 24 Back to film content :The following casts the motive for Rheya committing suicide on the Prometheus ON THE PROMETHEUS A beat. RHEYA: What happened to us, exactly? KELVIN: You don't know? Rheya shakes her head. Kelvin just watches her. RHEYA: I remember... something burning. Coffee burning. INT. APARTMENT - DAY The rain-streaked window. An automated coffee maker has been left on, and the solidified coffee at the bottom of the pot is smoking. Rheya's body is on the floor of the kitchen. RHEYA (ON PROMETHEUS) She is looking at Kelvin. He is dreading this. RHEYA: You found me? He nods. It's coming back to her. INT. APARTMENT - DAY Kelvin is yelling at Rheya. We don't hear what he's saying, but judging from her reaction, it's not pleasant. She is crying. RHEYA (ON PROMETHEUS) Experiencing this all over again. Kelvin comes and sits in front of her. INT. APARTMENT - DAY Kelvin, still yelling, is packing some things into a suitcase. Rheya, between sobs, pleads with him. RHEYA (ON PROMETHEUS) Her eyes fill with tears. Kelvin embraces her. * Excluding first half of p. 25 ;CUT TO: INT. KELVIN'S ROOM Kelvin is out of bed and speaking into a videophone to Snow. Rheya is asleep in the background. The room is dark except for the glow of the screen. SNOW: You're unnerved because you've spent your whole life thinking nobody is looking over you, and suddenly your subconscious is an open book. We are, for the first time, experiencing changes in natural reality by a force not our own. -- KELVIN: -- we are not sure of that. We are not sure we aren't all hallucinating. SNOW: This is happening, Kevin. Wake up. Not in film * Excluding remaining p. 26 * Excluding p. 27 * Excluding p. 28 * Excluding first half of p. 29 Back to film content ;CUT TO: EXT. SOLARIS Turning, slowly. ;CUT TO: INT. KELVIN'S ROOM On the Prometheus. Rheya is awake, Kelvin asleep. She rises and goes to sit in a chair; she is anxious, something we haven't seen before. Kelvin wakes up, looks at her. Noting her expression: KELVIN: What's wrong. RHEYA: You don't love me. KELVIN: Stop. A beat. She looks down. RHEYA: I have to talk to you... I... I don't know where I came from. (up at him) Do you know? He doesn't respond. RHEYA: If you know but can't tell me now... will you ever be able to? KELVIN: (Calmly) What are you talking about? RHEYA: That I am not Rheya. That Rheya died. Killed herself. I'm different. He's looking at her, and knows this is dangerous territory. *Excluding body of p. 30, not in film KELVIN: Can you sleep? RHEYA: I don't think I do. It's not sleep; it's something else. It's all around me. KELVIN: Those are dreams. ;FADE OUT. ;FADE IN: INT. CONFERENCE ROOM Kelvin, Rheya, Sartorius, and Snow. They are in the middle of a heated discussion. RHEYA: (to Sartorius) I'm just as human as you. I see, I hear, I touch, and I feel just like you do. SARTORIUS: Prove it. RHEYA: These "guests" are a part of you, of your subconscious. Chris loves me. SARTORIUS: YOU ARE NOT HUMAN! Try to understand that if you can understand anything! Not in film * Excluding first half of p. 31 * Excluding portions of p. 32 and p. 33, Disjointed Back to film content :Picking up where left off in... INT. CONFERENCE ROOM SNOW: But they are human. They certainly become human with incredible speed. First they're like they were in our memory, but then they fill in on their own. DNA doesn't determine the hundreds of trillions of connections that occur in the brain, it's not dense enough. They build up with experience. ;CUT TO: EXT. SOLARIS The fog-shrouded surface, shifting and turning like an ocean. ;CUT TO: INT. KELVIN'S ROOM Rheya is asleep. Kelvin is talking to Snow on the videophone. SNOW: Well, I think we're reaching the point of diminishing returns here, right? Certainly it's learning more about us than we'll ever learn about it. KELVIN: But why is it doing what it's doing? Given it's resources, it could have done anything. presenting me with your double, and you with mine. SNOW: Perhaps it did. KELVIN: They come when you sleep. SNOW: That's right. And we all have to sleep, eventually. ;CUT TO: INT. KELVIN'S BEDROOM Kelvin on the bed with Rheya. Their eyes are closed. We think they are asleep until: RHEYA: You don't want me. KELVIN: Rheya. RHEYA: That's what you were saying. I heard what you were saying. KELVIN: For a reason that neither of us understand, you are forced to stay near me. That's all I know right now. She realizes she doesn't want to argue. Not right now, anyway. RHEYA: I have these strange thoughts, I don't know where they come from. (beat) I can't explain it. KELVIN: Neither can I. He kisses her. RHEYA: Do you want to stay here? KELVIN: Do you? RHEYA: If you're here. They kiss again... Excluded scene ;DISSOLVE TO: INT. KELVIN'S ROOM Kelvin is asleep. Rheya is next to him. Offscreen, we hear the door open. Someone walks quietly (though not surreptitiously) through the frame and sits. After a long beat, Kelvin bolts upright, his mind struggling to clear. When it does: KELVIN: Gibarian. GIBARIAN: Leave the light off. A beat. Kelvin tries to get his bearings. GIBARIAN: I wish you'd come a little sooner. I might not have had to kill myself. He smiles, looking at Kelvin. GIBARIAN: You think you're dreaming me, like you dream her. Understand something: I am the real Gibarian. Just a new incarnation. Act III CUT TO: 1972 playscript (abridged)/Act III Category:Script 1972